Doctor 'used Tour map to plan doping'

Madrid

Sports doctor Eufemiano Fuentes used a page of the Tour de France's official guide to plan where riders would have blood infusions during cycling's most prestigious race, a German competitor testified on Monday.

Joerg Jaksche, 36, who raced on the Liberty Seguros team in 2005 and 2006, told a court in Madrid that Fuentes circled a map of France where the performance-enhancing infusions would take place. There were so many circles "you could hardly see France," Jaksche said.

Jaksche, who is now an economics student, said he paid about €4000 ($US5362) per transfusion to Fuentes via an HSBC bank account in Geneva. He paid in cash for erythropoietin, or EPO, which stimulates production of red blood cells.

Fuentes is among five defendants on trial for a "crime against public health" by overseeing a doping ring that was uncovered in a 2006 Spanish police investigation called "Operacion Puerto," or "Operation Mountain Pass." Prosecutors are seeking a two-year prison sentence for each defendant.

Jaksche, the first of several cyclists called to give evidence in the trial, quit the sport after becoming implicated in the investigation and has given several televised interviews in which he confessed to doping.

Cyclists have been known to collect and later transfuse their own blood to increase their body's volume of oxygen-carrying red blood cells that boost stamina.

Police initially linked as many as 58 pro cyclists to the ring, based on wiretaps, training notes and other evidence found in raids on apartments in Madrid. Fewer than half that number have faced disciplinary proceedings.

Fuentes testified he helped athletes from cycling, soccer and other sports "guarantee their health was not harmed by the rigours of competition," the Associated Press reported, citing his testimony last month. The trial, in its third week, is scheduled to end on March 22.